Defending a Major

You're dead right Witz. Maguire was choking badly, and had the match thrown away, only for Ronnie to miss a ridiculously easy blue.

Just thought of an interesting contrast today. The 2004 and 2010 Masters finals were very similar... Ronnie outplayed in both, losing a big lead in a deciding frame to Hunter and Selby respectively despite playing sensationally early on. Interestingly though, O'Sullivan's reaction to the Hunter match was good natured and positive, while he seemed thoroughly snake hissed off after the Selby one.

thetubberlad wrote:You're dead right Witz. Maguire was choking badly, and had the match thrown away, only for Ronnie to miss a ridiculously easy blue.

Just thought of an interesting contrast today. The 2004 and 2010 Masters finals were very similar... Ronnie outplayed in both, losing a big lead in a deciding frame to Hunter and Selby respectively despite playing sensationally early on. Interestingly though, O'Sullivan's reaction to the Hunter match was good natured and positive, while he seemed thoroughly snake hissed off after the Selby one.

ill have to try and find that missed blue on youtube, i remember being stunned Ronnie missed it, as was Maguire who was sitting in his seat resigned to his fate.

I think the simple explanation for the reactions from Ronnie is that (a) he liked Hunter but doesnt like Selby and (b) he didnt mind getting beat fair and square by Hunter but despises what he sees as Selbys deliberate negative tactics

theres no doubt about it selby has got in to the mind of Ronnie.

he does not like playing him.

Witz78 wrote:

thetubberlad wrote:You're dead right Witz. Maguire was choking badly, and had the match thrown away, only for Ronnie to miss a ridiculously easy blue.

Just thought of an interesting contrast today. The 2004 and 2010 Masters finals were very similar... Ronnie outplayed in both, losing a big lead in a deciding frame to Hunter and Selby respectively despite playing sensationally early on. Interestingly though, O'Sullivan's reaction to the Hunter match was good natured and positive, while he seemed thoroughly drunk / annoyed american off after the Selby one.

ill have to try and find that missed blue on youtube, i remember being stunned Ronnie missed it, as was Maguire who was sitting in his seat resigned to his fate.

I think the simple explanation for the reactions from Ronnie is that (a) he liked Hunter but doesnt like Selby and (b) he didnt mind getting beat fair and square by Hunter but despises what he sees as Selbys deliberate negative tactics

yes witz the last sentance in your comment is spot on.

course he enjoyed playing hunter who wouldn't? he knew hunter would give him a Tough POSITIVE Game, however selby is very slow and negitive like ebdon and them sort grind ronnie down

so he likes playing players that plays to his strengths lol

but when players say boo he runs a mile

wildJONESEYE wrote:so he likes playing players that plays to his strengths lol

but when players say boo he runs a mile

In a nutshell yes to an extent.

But when players like Selby and Ebdon take their negativity and tactics to extremes to get under his skin its the equivalent of a football team sticking 11 men behind the ball.

In my opinion it's a lot more disturbing in football, as it physically makes it nearly impossible for the attacking team to carry on with their game. In snooker the more positive player could still be in control, it's the matter of being able to deal with your own frustration, of staying patient and concentrated. It's more like a struggle with yourself and your nerves, which's the natural part of the game and should be mastered by players, even by the positive ones.
I don't mean to criticize anyone with it though and I by far prefer players whose weak point lies there than the ones who don't have it in them to take some risks.
And as for Ronnie/Selby in particular, playing someone whose vision of the game is so totally different than yours (and it's not about Selby being negative) can't be pleasant. Of course you can be even more determined to beat him, but you can also feel sick and disheartened because of having to go through this again.

Given Ding' s record at the uk championship 2 in 5 years, and Selby's record at the masters 2 in 3 years, you would have to think that they have a far better chance then robertson of defending there titles.

andreiolay212 wrote:Given Ding' s record at the uk championship 2 in 5 years, and Selby's record at the masters 2 in 3 years, you would have to think that they have a far better chance then robertson of defending there titles.

But defending a world is harder .....lets hope they experience that

ding 0 worlds

selby 0 worlds

robbo 1

says it all

andreiolay212 wrote:Given Ding' s record at the uk championship 2 in 5 years, and Selby's record at the masters 2 in 3 years, you would have to think that they have a far better chance then robertson of defending there titles.

Definitely agree, the mental pressure on a new World Champ coming back has beaten all the greats before Robertson so i'd be surprised if it was any different for him, and I don't really like saying it because it's subjective but who knows what would have happened if Robbo had faced O'Brien/Fu/Higgins/Ding/O'Sullivan instead of what he got which was kinder.

Bourne wrote:

andreiolay212 wrote:Given Ding' s record at the uk championship 2 in 5 years, and Selby's record at the masters 2 in 3 years, you would have to think that they have a far better chance then robertson of defending there titles.

Definitely agree, the mental pressure on a new World Champ coming back has beaten all the greats before Robertson so i'd be surprised if it was any different for him, and I don't really like saying it because it's subjective but who knows what would have happened if Robbo had faced O'Brien/Fu/Higgins/Ding/O'Sullivan instead of what he got which was kinder.

reason he played those players was because O'Brien/Fu/Higgins/Ding/O'Sullivan was marmite lol

so even had he faced them he would have beaten them

Well done for sticking your foot in it again wild

wildJONESEYE wrote:

Bourne wrote:

andreiolay212 wrote:Given Ding' s record at the uk championship 2 in 5 years, and Selby's record at the masters 2 in 3 years, you would have to think that they have a far better chance then robertson of defending there titles.

Definitely agree, the mental pressure on a new World Champ coming back has beaten all the greats before Robertson so i'd be surprised if it was any different for him, and I don't really like saying it because it's subjective but who knows what would have happened if Robbo had faced O'Brien/Fu/Higgins/Ding/O'Sullivan instead of what he got which was kinder.

reason he played those players was because O'Brien/Fu/Higgins/Ding/O'Sullivan was marmite lol

so even had he faced them he would have beaten them

wild